Early finish option for Wick school
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A CONSULTATION at Wick High School could result in pupils finishing early one day a week.
Rector Thomas McIntyre sent out a letter to parents at the start of December looking at reducing the amount of time wasted through the current school set-up of a 40-period week.
He laid out a range of options proposing a move to a 33-period week at the start of the 2012
Other schools in Highland and across Scotland have already implemented a similar structure, including at Dingwall and Alness.
The Highland Council’s education, culture and sport chairman, Wick councillor Bill Fernie, thinks the move could benefit the school.
“The idea is that the pupils would get more time in front of the teachers in the classrooms than they would under the current system,” said Mr Fernie.
“I certainly know that a few head teachers have been looking at this idea.
“First of all it could be more efficient and secondly it can be to the advantage of the children’s education as there is less movement around the school.
“Really I think to create less disruption has to be a good thing for both the teachers and pupils.”
He added: “I would be all in favour of anything that delivers more education to our young people.”
Mr McIntyre states in his letter the proposed changes would be to increase the amount of time pupils are actually being taught and cut down on the time they have to spend travelling between classes.
He wrote that at present the school loses 20 minutes of teaching time per teacher over the course of a week.
As well as extending period length to maximise efficiency he suggested grouping subjects to double periods to cut down on movement between classes.
The 33-period week will not be split equally between the five days and the longer periods mean that one day has the potential to finish after lunch time.
However, a letter received by the Caithness Courier from a member the public, who did not wish to be named, claimed that the decision to have this half day on a Friday had already been made – a statement that was simply incorrect, stressed the rector, who said he had laid out six possible options for parents to consider.
“The proposals are not exact days, they are options and I want to know what people think,” said Mr McIntyre.
“It could be closed in the afternoon on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday.
“Consultation means looking at what is the best option for people and them deciding what they would like.
“Each consultation group has given their opinion and I will look at those opinions.”
Parent council secretary Rhona Gill told the Courier that the issue had come up at the group’s meeting in November when Mr McIntyre gave a presentation on the proposals.
Mrs Gill said that the parent council has not received any representations over concerns on the subject and she expects most of the responses to go through the actual consultation process.
Minutes from the meeting record Mr McIntyre saying if Friday was chosen as the shorter day it would allow people the opportunity to easily go away for the weekend.
Also noted in the minutes is staff confirming that finishing early on a Friday would be their preference.
Speaking this week Mr McIntyre stressed that it is a consultation exercise, nothing has been decided and that there is a lot of due process to go through before any changes are made.
“It’s a consultation exercise and I have consulted with staff and the parent council,” he said. “The parent council agreed it should go out to parents and it has.”
The consultation closed on December 21.
Wick High School parent council can be contacted at whs.pc.@btinternet.com
The next parent council meeting is on February 22.
KEY AREAS FOR CONSULTATION
1: Improving efficiency and effectiveness of the timetable
2: Saving money on staffing
3: Increasing time allocation to PE
4: Flexibility within Curriculum for Excellence
5: Improving time allocation in senior school
6: Considering no registration in the morning – instead implementing electronic registration in all classes
7: Changing the length of lunch time
8: Changing the start and finishing times
9: Moving to four days of seven periods and one day of five periods
10: Introduction of a 50-minute period
11: Considering on what day the school should close early
